1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for illuminating reading material, such as a menu or a book, for ease of viewing in dimly lit restaurants or other locations where they might be difficult to read.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is often necessary to read materials such as menus in low lighting areas, such as restaurants, bars, nightclubs, etc. as well as in areas in which natural light or artificial light may be obstructed. More expensive restaurants, taverns, theaters and adult entertainment venues often are purposely dimly lit. This is true for bars and taverns as well. That makes it difficult to read the menu, especially for those who do not have perfect eyesight or have forgotten to bring their eyeglasses with them. Similarly, mechanics may have difficulty in reading a repair manual while working under the frame or under the hood of an automobile and passengers may have difficulty reading a map when traveling at night.
In the past, waiters in a restaurant have offered a patron a candle, which provides limited light and is dangerous to use. The use of a flashlight disturbs the ambiance and possibly other patrons in an expensive restaurant. Pen lights are constantly disappearing or being dropped and damaged and wait staff must spend time handing them out with menus. Mechanics have used flashlights or utility lights, but they are clumsy and awkward and when laid down are difficult to find since they are unattached, separate units. Automobiles and airplanes may or may not have a map light and even if they do, it is not always a flexible light able to be angled to necessary areas.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,673,595 discloses a menu holder with a light fixed in place at the top and an on/off switch. U.S. Pat. No. 2,806,715 is a note pad holder with a light fixed in place at the top as well. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,145 has a light fixed in place to a side of a panel. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,266,164, 6,302,563 and 5,813,748 teach an electroluminescent panel from which light shines through paper placed on the panel. The devices can only be used on paper of a limited thickness and cannot be used on more than one page, since the light will illuminate the text on pages between the light and the top page, rendering the reading matter illegible. Those devices are also inappropriate for reading material which is printed on both sides of the page or where two pages are inserted in a clear plastic leaf as an alternative to double-sided printing. U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,039 shows a menu stand having a light source and a call signal for a waiter. U.S. Pat. No. 6,796,673 is a check presenter with a signal beacon. All of those devices provide a single flat panel for holding and illuminating or magnifying reading material form a fixed source. Such a lighting device is an integral part of the menu cover and therefore must be recharged in a special area or installation, taking up valuable space.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,610,770 discloses a magnifying container or stand for printed matter having a single panel or booklet construction. U.S. Pat. No. 6,637,907 discloses a device for illuminating a menu, having LEDs in a frame illuminating the menu from the sides when the frame is held by a user. The device may have two panels as well. U.S. Pat. No. 6,409,357 teaches an illuminated billfold or portfolio having a light at the top of one flat panel and another flat panel having a cutout for the light when the billfold is closed. A contact switch activates the light when the billfold is opened. U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,156 teaches a flat, two-panel holder for reading material having illumination sources fixed to the top of the holder. Although those devices may have two panels, the sources of illumination which are present are fixed to a panel and may not reach all areas of the pages.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,764,192 has a pivoting magnifier and a light at a pivot point of the magnifier. Although the magnifier and light can swing out, the light is not freely moveable and would not permit two panels to close over it.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,093 shows a case having a base for receiving a magazine and a cover hinged to the base. The cover has an illuminating device opposite the hinge and is the same size as the base. The illuminating device is fixed to the cover and not on an additional panel. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 7,163,307 has a light on a panel which is the same size as a panel holding a check. U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,145 also has a light fixed on a side of a panel holding reading material. The reading material is opened and closed at the spine to reduce glare and prevent light from shining in the reader's eyes, but no adjustment for the pages on the panel fixed to the light is possible.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,128,433 has a backlight for shining through paper, a magnifying sheet and another light on an additional panel of the same size as the backlight panel, for shining through the magnifying sheet.
Attempts to solve the above-mentioned problems have been addressed in the prior art, but those attempts have not taken into account restaurant and bar industry restrictions, leading to bulky, single-page, expensive and time and space-consuming configurations which must be charged while inside the menu cover, requiring special individual storage space.
None of the prior art devices permit a user to freely select which portions of the reading material are to be illuminated by manipulating a panel or lighting module which is smaller than and separate from the panel or panels used for covering, uncovering and holding the reading material. The devices are thus cumbersome, difficult to use and unsightly and therefore not acceptable for all applications.